3 FTSE 100 Dividends Lifted This Week: InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) (IHG) and More

LONDON — The FTSE 100 has slipped 101 points to 6,294 today following downbeat economic news from Europe suggesting that we could see shrinkage of 0.3% in the first quarter. There are also fears that the U.S. stimulus package could be coming to an end.

What’s the best way to deal with volatile times? Investing in companies that provide steady dividend income is one way. Here are three that have raised their payments this week.

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (ADR) ((NYSE:IHG)
InterContinental Hotels Group lifted its full-year dividend by 16% on Tuesday to $0.64 per share. On the current share price of 1,922 pence, that’s a yield of a little more than 2%. Revenue for the year came in 4% ahead at $1.8 billion, with adjusted earnings per share up 9% to $1.41.

The latest dividend does not provide a particularly high yield, but InterContinental has a record of keeping its payouts well covered and was able to continue them through the recession. In addition, the share price has put on about 35% over the past 12 months.

BHP Billiton plc (ADR) (NYSE:BBL)
On Wednesday, BHP Billiton released half-year results and raised its interim dividend by 4% to $0.57 per share from $0.55 last year. That came despite revenue falling $5 billion to $32 billion, with underlying operating profit down $6 billion to $10 billion — but it was in a year of low commodities prices.

The share price has dropped from Tuesday’s close of 2,236 pence to 2,106 pence today for a fall of 3.6%. Forecasts for the year to June 2013 indicate a fall in EPS of 22%, but a recovery is predicted for the following year, and we should see dividends continue upwards.

Rexam PLC (LON:REX)
Final results from Rexam, released on Wednesday, allowed the company to lift its full-year dividend by 6% to 15.2 pence per share. That was more than twice covered by EPS and represents a yield of 3% on the current price of 505 pence. The consumer packaging company was forced to slash its dividend in 2009 when earnings slumped, but since then it has been steadily raising its dividend year on year.

Forecasts suggest two further years of both earnings and dividend growth, with 2013 figures suggesting a yield of 3.7%, rising to 4% for 2014 estimates.

The article 3 FTSE 100 Dividends Lifted This Week originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Alan Oscroft.

Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.

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